July 30, 2018

Democrat-run cities and states have promised public employee unions generous pensions for years, and now the proverbial chickens are coming home to roost. The unfunded liabilities in places from New Jersey and New York to Illinois and the three west coast states, the pension hole is approximately $5 trillion - about the size of the economy of Japan.

This is not a recoverable situation, and it's hard to see how so many people could have failed to see this day coming.

June 17, 2018

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes has been charged for allegedly knowingly defrauding her investors with fake blood tests and lies about the product's ability.

Holmes and Theranos president Ramesh 'Sunny' Balwani allegedly told investors, doctors and patients their technology could deliver blood testing with less blood and faster results with their new technology while knowing that was not true. If convicted, Holmes and Balwani face a maximum of 20 years behind bars and a fine of up to $250,000, plus restitution, for each charge.

They didn't invent anything, they just repackaged equipment that was in widespread use already. They just came up with a new sales pitch. And some spiffy names like the "thermocycler". Toss enough jargon around, and somebody's going to think you know what you're doing.

June 16, 2018

When the Obama Foundation first sought to lease parts of Jackson Park three years ago for its project, it convinced the city of Chicago that it planned to construct an official library to be managed by federal officials. But after receiving the lease, Obama suddenly decided to not include his official presidential library within the center.

Local parks activists filed a lawsuit last month to block the construction of Obama’s presidential center on the basis that it’s a fraud. But then, it's Chicago; fraud's been part of the culture there for at least the past half-century.

The lawsuit argued that while the purpose of transferring the land was to house the official Obama presidential library, the center will not include his presidential papers, only a digital copy.

Whatever, since it's going to go up on the South Side, they'd better make sure the place is bullet-proof.

Police arrested Jay Barbeau after Megan Stackhouse, 34, and fiancee Lucinda Mann, 26, told officers he had smashed their car's rear window, snapped Stackhouse's arm with his bare hands and knocked Mann unconscious during a June 1 altercation in Bend.

District Attorney John Hummel said in statement he decided to drop the charges, which included felony assault, after a review of medical records, witness accounts and prior incidents involving the two women.

"I have no confidence in the credibility of Mann and Stackhouse," Hummel said.

During its investigation, Hummel's office said it found Mann had feigned being unconscious in a 2016 traffic incident and, last week, had intentionally thrown herself onto the hood of a car in the road after drinking with Stackhouse at Bend's 10 Barrel brewery.

Maybe those two should reassess their drinking issues. Among other problems.

As well, former First Squeeze Cylvia, also a Bend resident, is back in the news:

Filing for bankruptcy wouldn't protect former first lady Cylvia Hayes from paying a $125,000 judgment to The Oregonian/OregonLive or up to $110,000 in fines for ethics violations,according to an expert in bankruptcy law.

The Oregonian filed a lien on her Bend home a few months ago due to her refusal to pay up. She sued them to keep her emails out of the organization's hands, she lost in court, and has to cover the legal fees incurred by The Oregonian, which she has refused to do; proudly proclaiming that they'll "never see a dime" of her money.

Hayes wrote in a Facebook post Thursday, June 8, that she planned to file bankruptcy to "protect my home from the Oregonian." "And so, I am hoping to close the door on a long and draining ordeal," she wrote. "I am ready to have all of my energy moving forward focused on positive work, rather than mired down in a legal quagmire."

Her cunning plan wasn't well thought-out, it seems. She does love to play the victim card, though this time it's unlikely to work.

"This is a very difficult decision," Hayes wrote. "I have struggled with it, sought counsel, soul-searched, meditated and prayed about it. Prior to all of this my only debt was my mortgage—no credit card balances, school loans were paid off and my car was paid in full (the same car I am driving today). I have never failed to pay off a debt and never imagined I would be in bankruptcy."

She owes the news organization about $128,000 - and declaring bankruptcy may result in a discharge of that obligation, although The Oregonian placed a lien on her home in Bend, Oregon a couple of months ago. In addition, she faces fines and penalties of some $110,000 related to 22 counts of ethics violations, which cannot be obliterated through bankruptcy proceedings.

Hayes suggested that other public officials should be worried should they find themselves in a similar situation.

"The precedent this sets should cause serious concern for anyone in Oregon in an appointed or volunteer public service position," Hayes wrote. "You too could find yourself in the crosshairs of dishonest, for-profit media institutions coming after you and your personal property."

It's always somebody else's fault. In her case, it's the "dishonest, for-profit media". It had nothing to do with the grifter's choices. She got into trouble some years back for taking $5,000 to engage in a sham marriage to an immigrant so he could become a U.S. citizen. Among other things in her shady past.

June 05, 2018

SEATTLE - Seattle lawmakers are discussing the idea of requiring home and landowners to get a permit and pay a fee to cut down a tree six inches in diameter or larger.

Nope, you don't own that land, the city does. I'll pay attention to the clowns when they start paying my property taxes.

Hasn't happened yet, so I continue to ignore them. Here in Portland, they expect "owners" to buy a permit just to trim a tree - and after you pay, some bureaucrat tells you whether or not you can do it. The fee is, of course, nonrefundable.

May 31, 2018

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Public schools in Oregon have one of the lowest graduation rates in the country. The state also requires students be in class for fewer days than students in most other states. Year after year, the state’s high school graduation rate is among the worst in the country. Currently, one out of every four students does not graduate high school in four years.

Around the country, students in other states average 180 days of instructional time in a school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Those are defined as days when kids are at their desk, learning from a teacher.

In Oregon, the average is about 165 instructional days. That’s among the lowest in the country.

It's all part of the plan: keep people stupid and they'll vote straight Democrat every time.

In the real world, that's $1.61 per liter. 1 L = 0.264172052 gal US. And actually, the cost is closer to $6 USD per gallon, though it'll hit $8 soon enough. Still, if you have a ten-gallon tank in your vehicle, a fill-up will run you about $60 now.

Former Liberal Member of Parliament Dan McTeague, who now heads the petroleum industry watchdog GasBuddy.com, told CBC News that Vancouver has the dubious honor of having the highest gas prices anywhere in North America, from Alaska to Mexico. Vancouver was one of the first cities in Canada to proudly unveil a carbon tax that has continued to escalate year after year.

But as noted here yesterday, Gov. Moonbeam is doing his best to play catch-up by increasing vehicle registration fees and increasing fuel taxes, and vows to fight any attempts to reject the increases through the initiative process.

Carbon taxes! They have no effect upon the environment, much less the climate - but plenty of impact on your wallet.

April 25, 2018

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch today released 281 pages of newly uncovered emails of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from the U.S. Department of State sent and received over her unsecure, non-“state.gov” email system. The emails, dated 2010 through 2013, contain classified information and detail collusion between the Clinton State Department and the Clinton Foundation.

These new classified and other emails appear to be among those that Clinton had attempted to delete or had otherwise failed to disclose.

They were turned over due to a FOIA lawsuit that was necessitated after State failed to respond to JW's FOIA request back on March 4, 2015.

“It is shameful that Hillary Clinton attempted to delete or hide classified information and that Obama appointees James Comey and Loretta Lynch refused to prosecute her,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “It is clear that the Clintons were using the State Department to run an extensive influence peddling scheme."

And HRC continues to blame everybody but herself for her loss to Trump, when "What Happened" was that people were fed up with her lies and her scams, to say nothing of the body count.

February 23, 2018

During FY 2017, boarding rides per hour on MAX reached the lowest level since light rail opened in 1986.

Tri-Met, which was once an agency with decent bus lines but which has in recent decades decided that they're a development agency, now has about $1 billion in unfunded liabilities. At present, the development agency is plowing ahead with plans to build a new multi-billion-dollar light rail line between downtown Portland and a suburban shopping mall. Because people always love to buy new furniture at a shopping mall and lug it onto a light rail car.

It's worked so well in the past (see "Cascade Station, PDX").

They were so intent on making a "mixed-use, walkable village" there that the land sat vacant for over a decade until they finally broke down and re-zoned the place to allow big-box stores and 2,000 parking spaces.